Countries in Eastern-Europe are in a lengthy period of rapid changes. Ten Central and Eastern European countries entered the European Union in 2004 and two more entered in 2007. Surrounding countries to the east are in a similar process of change following the disintegration of the former Soviet Union. The transition processes were studied in a recent workshop resulting in this book. It is comprised of 13 contributions: four overview articles, one on the topic of animal welfare and eight country reports. The country reports come from a wide variety of countries in Eastern Europe and Asia: Slovakia, Poland, Baltic States, Russian Federation, Belarus, Ukraine, Caucasian countries and Central Asian countries. The country reports describe the transitions taking place in these countries. Both developments in the beef cattle sector and in the dairy chain are described with emphasis on the dairy chain situation. The authors are from a range of academic and professional backgrounds including universities, research and developmental institutions, farmers’ organisations, agribusiness and a marketing board. Some analyses are made and several critical points in development are signalled. Thus, barriers as well as opportunities for further development are mentioned and described in this book.

This book examines the potential of Livestock Farming Systems (LFS) research to assess and understand the diversity of livestock farming systems in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). LFS research based on systemic modelling has improved the understanding of livestock production realities at farm level and influenced agricultural development strategies in Western Europe. Researchers from both Western and Eastern Europe carried out this initial study, which was coordinated and sponsored under a collaborative agreement between EAAP and FAO, and was run in selected regions in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the Slovak Republic. The results and conclusions of the study are reported in the book, together with the other contributions of interest with respect to the sustainable development of livestock production in CEE presented and discussed during a workshop in Budapest in August 2001. The results of the study demonstrate the adaptability of LFS research to systems predominantly based on large-scale private, corporate and co-operative farms in the CEE countries.

"In 2001-2002, the EU Phare Business Support Programme funded an inter-country project dealing with strengthening of cattle breeders associations as business representative organisations in eight then EU candidate countries: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Breeders associations from Austria, Germany and Italy also participated in the project, while the European Association for Animal Production acted as the project leader. The project also known under its acronym as BABROC aimed at facilitating the integration of the cattle industries in the Central and Eastern European countries in the EU system and at improving quality of services provided by breeders associations to their members. The present publication contains invited papers for the international workshop on the image of cattle industry and its products, held in Verona, Italy 8 March 2002. Technical papers as well as statements made by Messrs. J. Fischler, EU Commissary, and G. Alemanno, Italian Minister of Agriculture, deal with expectations of consumers regarding the safety and quality of cattle products as the basic message for all involved in the cattle industry."

"The assessment builds on the work of the Livestock, Environment and Development (LEAD) Initiative"--Pref.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has expanded lay people’s vocabulary; PCR-testing is no longer mentioned only by virologists, nor are the terms basic reproduction ratio and herd-immunity limited to epidemiologists. This expansion of vocabulary that was previously only used in specialist settings already demonstrates global, societal impact. We have learnt that it is insufficient simply to act on disease emergence and spread. More focus is needed on prevention and surveillance of the precursors of emerging infectious disease, as well as early detection. To succeed in this, it is a necessity to collaborate across sectors – academics, governments, industry and the public – in a transdisciplinary way.

"The introduction of a quota system has a large impact on the development of the agricultural sector, the agro-business and individual farms. In April 2004 the Central and Eastern European (CEE) Countries entering the EU had to implement a quota system for milk. It requires institution building, setting up administrative procedures, choices of the system, choice of priority groups, handling of butterfat reference, dealing with a national reserve, control aspects, quota transfer, farm management aspects and communication to farmers. All early attention at national levels has been given to the administrative aspects of milk quota systems. Communication to farmers about the system and the effects on farm management is often neglected. This publication hopes to fill this gap and wants to stimulate attention on farm management and extension efforts. It presents an overview of papers from ""old"" countries and country reports from new EU countries. They all contain information about expected structural changes due to the quota system, effects on farm management, extension needs in this area and challenges in years ahead. Impressions from 7 other CEE non EU countries are also included. This book gives an extensive and unique overview of the dairy situation in the Central and Eastern European countries in the year of the enlargement of the EU and a view into the future in this regard."